Farmer's Wife: The Plan

So I've been admiring Farmer's Wife quilts for some time now but never felt confident enough in my piecing to even think about doing it. I finally got the motivation to start on it, however I'm still not happy with my piecing skills. But this will be a learning experience for me, and since there is no set deadline there's no pressure. I'm thinking this will probably take a year or longer to complete (I'm making a queen size quilt) and I plan to make a block or two in my down time, whenever that occurs.

I decided to use use Fig Tree's fabric collections, specifically Mirabelle, Honeysweet, Tapestry and Butterscotch & Rose, plus their coordinating cream solid. I think these fabrics are so calming and since this quilt will eventually be in our bedroom, calming is a good thing. :)

I already know that I will probably paper piece (my first attempt!) a few of the more complicated blocks, and I'll probably rotary cut a few of the simpler blocks, but I still want to use the templates too. So I will definitely be stretching my amateur skills on this quilt.

We'll see how this goes, I'm hoping my piecing skills improve as I go along. Will definitely keep you posted. :)

Pinwheel Sampler Top

I got my pinwheel sampler top finished this past Saturday. Despite cutting off a few points, I am happy with how it turned out.

I already got the binding cut and ready to go, but I'm still undecided on the backing. I'm thinking either a solid or tone-on-tone grey, so the quilting will stand out. I plan visiting the fabric store this week and then it's off to Abby for quilting. I can't wait until it's finished and I can snuggle with it. :)

{WIP} Final Pinwheels

I finished up the final 4 pinwheels last night for my pinwheel sampler.

Block 7

Block 8

I saw another pinwheel sampler that put block #7 in the four corners and I liked how it looked. But instead of making 4 of the same block I switched up the pinwheels for block #8. The borders are the same size as block 7 except the outer-most white border. I ended up making the pinwheels too small so I made the white outer border 0.5" bigger to compensate. Other than that it turned out great!

Now all that is left is to sash it and pick out the backing, then it's off to the quilters! :)

Jenny's Happy Quilt

One of my dear friends from high school is sick. And not getting over the flu kind of sick either. She's currently on kidney dialysis waiting to get a transplant but you wouldn't know it by looking at her. Her attitude is so positive and she is just so amazingly upbeat about the whole thing.

Whenever she gets the call that a kidney is available, she will travel to another state for the transplant and recovery. She will be there a few months until her doctors give her the ok to travel back. I wanted to make her a happy quilt to use during her future hospital visit but also during her dialysis appointments and basically, any time she wants to snuggle with something.

I went with a layer cake of High Street by Lily Ashbury. When I saw it, it screamed her name so I bought it. The binding is the small pink flowers in the same line.

The quilt is really simple. I laid out the layer cake pieces in a 6x6 square then sewed it all together. The remaining 6 layer cake pieces I sewed in a row for the back. I'm so sorry, I forgot to take a picture but I'll try to explain the back. I bought some soft tone on tone grey flannel from Joann's, enough for a 60x60 quilt. I sewed it so there was no middle seam but two seams along the sides, the remaining layer cake square are about 20" up from the bottom. I hope that makes sense. I may have to snag the quilt from Jenny for a few more photos to show you.

I quilted a simple X in each square using a pastel rainbow thread. It shows up beautifully on the back with the grey flannel. I used the same thread to attach the binding, except that I used a specialty stitch instead of the typical straight stitch. It adds the perfect touch and I'm just kicking myself for not taking more photos.

Next time we meet up for coffee I will have to hijack the quilt for more photos. Promise.

More happy mail

I love happy mail :)

The layer cake will eventually be made into a quilt for my sister's silent auction. She's fundraising to sing in Austria and I love how there's music notes in this collection. Fitting, right? :)

I've been eye-ing Farmer's Wife quilts for awhile now and I finally bought the book. I plan on making a queen size quilt for our bed (I know, crazy!) but there's no deadline and I expect it to take me a year or more to complete. Just something to do during down time.

The Japanese book is a very fortunate find. It's out of print and crazy expensive if anyone is selling it. But I found it on Amazon for less than $30! I had to get it and I'm so glad I did. The patterns are so cute and I can't wait to try my hand at paper piecing some cute blocks.

Happy Mail

I love getting mail. Maybe not so much bills, but I love getting catalogs, letters, cards and packages.

Especially packages that contain pretty fabric. :) I ordered some fabric for two quilts and a little something for my stash. Pretty fabric is my weakness, I hoard it like nobody's business.

On the bottom left is a fat quarter bundle plus some yardage from the Flats collection. I'm using it for my mom's quilt and I can't wait to cut into it.

In the middle is a layer cake plus some yardage from the High Street collection. The colors are even brighter and prettier in person! This is for my friend Jenny but I might have to buy a charm pack or two for myself.

On the right is a 10" stacker and some yardage from The Simple Life collection. This collection, at least certain prints of it, is getting hard to find. I found them on Etsy and I'm glad I got them right when I saw them because they were gone within the day. I'm hoarding this and don't plan on cutting into it until the perfect project comes along.

{WIP} Pinwheel Sampler

I've been wanting to do this quilt for awhile now and I finally got the motivation to start it last month. I'm so very, very late to jump on this quilt along but I've always loved pinwheels. It just took while to find the right fabric. :)

I chose to use blues, greens and oranges. Last year, my local quilt shop was running a special on fat quarters. So I bought 10 fat quarters from a variety of lines in blues and greens, with one orange. Last month I pulled them all out again and decided that two didn't make the cut. I also wanted to add in some navy and more orange.

So off to Joann's I went and bought quarter yards from the DS Quilts collection and a few others from their premium collections.

The original Pinwheel Sampler is all about half square triangles, but looking at a few of the blocks I decided to give flying geese a try. I've never done them before but I knew that I didn't want seams to cut off the prints.

I used flying geese in blocks 3, 4, and 6. And I used this method found {here} so there would be no waste.

My seams don't always line up and there's been a few times where I had to unpick seams, but I'm having fun learning new techniques. This quilt has definitely stretched my cutting and piecing skills. I'm always so happy when a pinwheel lines up perfectly the first try.

I still have a few more blocks to complete (4 to be exact) before I can start sashing it. I've been busy mending jeans and sewing up some clothing for my niece, so I'm hoping to get back into the saddle soon. My goal is to have it completely done (quilted and bound) before summer.

To keep up with my progress click here
For the pattern instructions click here (scroll down to find the list of all the blocks)